Music and Maturity
by SardonyxRosetta
Summary: Haruhi and Tamaki finally have some time to themselves at the Suoh mansion, and with a piano and a rose garden at their disposal, anything is possible - even, in Haruhi's case, the unexpected.


Finally, I fixed up one of my Ouran Fanfics enough so that I figured I could publish it. This takes place a couple years after the anime, and at least a year after the ending of the manga. In case anyone is wondering, the manga is _definitely_ worth reading, especially in terms of character development and complex but happy endings. The anime is fantastic as well, just not quite as thorough. Regardless, please leave a review if you feel so inclined. I enjoy the comments immensely. I will most likely not be continuing this vignette, though, so apologies in advance. I like how it stands on its own, but everything is subject to change, right?

Greatest Regards,

Sardonyx Rosetta

Music and Maturity

Her dad had raided her closet again, leaving her with only dresses to wear. Haruhi didn't exactly mind this one, though. It was a delicate rose color, the skirt reaching past her knees. She liked how it felt against her thin legs as she padded up the stairs in the direction Tamaki's old housemaid pointed her, although she was loathe to admit it.

She was glad that the other host club members weren't coming today. Tamaki had left a text message on her phone early this morning to say he was sending a car over to pick her up, and not to bring anyone else with. The thought of the twins interrupting their private day together almost made her shudder. Haruhi would never be able to get the three of them to stop yelling and running around her in circles, gracing her with a massive headache.

As Haruhi walked slowly down the hallway, the sound of a piano grew stronger and stronger. The mysterious, unfamiliar song was light, with an underlying sense of pain. The amount of feeling poured into the surreal melody could only be coming from one person, she knew, and that person was Tamaki. She turned the handle to the music room quietly, as not to disturb his playing.

No matter how many times she had seen it, Tamaki's music room still gave her shivers. The space wasn't creepy, so much as it was large. The ceiling seemed to extend upwards for miles, and the walls were just as expansive. It was one of the few rooms in the large mansion that seemed less ornate, yet just as elegant. One wall was almost entirely windows, the warm sunlight filtering through the clear glass, illuminating the large grand piano in the middle of the room. A few chairs and tables were scattered around the edge of the room, but otherwise it was bare.

Tamaki sat on the bench at the shining black piano, his fingers pouring the same dreamlike song out onto the keys as Haruhi had heard in the hallway seconds before. He hadn't noticed her arrival, which made her smile. He was always so enraptured by his own music that it amazed Haruhi. How someone could ever have as much passion for the things they enjoyed as he did made Haruhi feel special that Tamaki was hers and hers alone.

Slipping off the soft house slippers that the servants had so nicely provided for her, Haruhi meandered over to the piano. The notes he played made her want to spin around, inviting the enchanting melody into her body. Haruhi closed her eyes as she spun in a slow, wide circle, a serene smile on her face.

As Haruhi opened her eyes, she caught Tamaki looking at her with a smile on his face. She bit her lip as a sheepish blush spread across her cheekbones. Finally closing the ten-foot gap between the two, Haruhi slid onto the bench next to him and sighed in relief.

Tamaki didn't even pause to speak, just kept on creating a beautiful composition with his long, slender fingers. He knew Haruhi would only get mad at him if he stopped. She told him how much she enjoyed his music, and that she hated interrupting, so Tamaki always made a point to finish playing before greeting her.

Haruhi closed her eyes again, softly resting her head against his shoulder. Delicate beams of light filtered through the tall windows, the crossbeams and decorations projecting intricate shadows across the expansive tile floor. She took a deep breath, her lungs filling with his signature scent and relaxing her muscles as she exhaled. For that moment in time, everything felt perfect.

All songs have an ending, unfortunately, and less than a minute later, Tamaki's did. This ending, however, wasn't all that bad. It just meant she would have more of his attention. As the last chord faded out into the semi-ethereal music room and he lifted his hands away from the keys, Haruhi sat up and opened her eyes.

"That was beautiful, Tamaki-sen- um... Tamaki," she said by way of greeting, correcting herself at the last minute.

"Why thank you!" He laughed, standing and pulling Haruhi to her feet. "Let's go on a walk, shall we? I believe the roses are in bloom now, and it would be most entertaining to see what colors have decided to spring up this year."

"That sounds like fun," she smiled, letting him lead her out the door and towards the back of the house. He gave her a smile as well, his cerulean eyes glinting. The two made idle chatter as they approached the back door, putting on the shoes that the provided and walking out onto the garden paths.

Until then, Haruhi had been clasping her hands behind her as she usually did, but Tamaki was determined to change that. With a grin and a flip of his hair, he held his hand out for hers. "May I have the honor of escorting her highness through the palace gardens?" he said in his most convincing 'host club' speech. Haruhi rolled her eyes, but still played along with his little charade by unclasping her fingers and placing one set in his.

"Thank you, my princess," he flashed her a cheesy grin as they began to walk down the path, and she couldn't help but smile.

"You're such an idiot," Haruhi sighed, shaking her head. Tamaki started in on his whole 'wounded' routine immediately, pressing his free hand to his chest in over-dramatic shock.

"How could you, Haruhi?!" He exclaimed, his eyes widening in mock-agony. "I thought you loved me!"

"Sometimes I wonder," Haruhi sighed, watching out of the corner of her eye as he pouted. Tamaki was such a kid sometimes, and too much fun to tease. As time had passed Haruhi had grown to enjoy provoking him, but just enough that it ruffled his feathers a bit.

His unconscious response had been to reign in his own inner child, biting back some of the more immature comments that his former self would have used without hesitation. "Commoner" became "darling, and "daughter" became "sweetheart." Tamaki knew she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about her new pet names, but his promise to cease the baby-talking he had been so prone to in high school lessened her irritation. He glanced ahead, and immediately his face brightened.

"Look Haruhi!" he said, his eyes brightening as he jumped up and down. "The roses! The roses!" Immediately, Tamaki broke into a run, dragging poor Haruhi along with him.

"Senpai, slow down!" she called out on instinct, trying desperately not to trip as they flew down the gravel path.

Tamaki skidded to a halt, suddenly towering over her in a rather imposing way. "What did I say about calling me Senpai?!" He cried, his eyes flaming.

"Um..." Haruhi said, leaning away from him as far as she could. "Never to call you that again? Ever?"

Tamaki nodded in approval, his free hand flying to his face and resting its fingers on his forehead and cheekbone in one fluid motion. "Now, what is my name again, Haruhi?"

"Tamaki," she said, already bored with the dramatics Tamaki seemed to drag into every single situation. "Your name is Tamaki." Even with all the maturing he had done in the past few years, he was still the same old Tamaki deep inside – and hopefully, that would never change.

"There we go!" he exclaimed, awarding the poor girl with a spontaneous, bone-crushing hug before dragging her off to where the roses grew in abundance.

Haruhi couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief as they found a bench deep into the rose patch. The air even smelled of the fragrant flowers, so much so that it was almost overpowering. The hand that had been grasping hers seconds before found its way around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Tamaki's cheeks were slightly pink, and he looked away, pretending to observe a patch of red flowers across from them. Haruhi clasped her hands in her lap, trying her best not to be embarrassed by how close the two of them were. It felt nice, his arm on her back, his hand pulling her close, and her entire left side pressed against his broad one.. The silence, too, was nice. As much as she liked Tamaki's endearing chatter, she loved the brief moments of quiet that encompassed them from time to time even more. Haruhi smiled up at him, and he looked back at her with a sheepish grin on his own face.

Tamaki's other hand rose towards her face, his index finger tipping her chin upward as he leaned in to kiss her. Haruhi's eyes closed in contentment as his lips pressed against hers, his soft touch sending butterflies whirling in her stomach. "I love you," he breathed, resting his forehead against hers. God, she was gorgeous. Finding the words were so hard, when they mattered more than everything. "And... I have a question." Tamaki pulled away, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Ask away," Haruhi smiled, too oblivious to have any idea as to what was coming next. To her dismay, Tamaki untangled himself from her. "Wait, what are you-"

"Haruhi Fujioka," Tamaki said in the most formal, non-host-club-ish voice he could muster as he knelt down next to the bench and pulled something from his pocket "Will you... marry me?"

A shock ran through her as she stared at him in amazement, the one boy she loved more than anyone, down on one knee, proposing to her. Haruhi, of course, had absolutely no idea that this had been coming. "Oh Tamaki..." she breathed as soon as she found her voice, almost numb from the shock. Then, without any warning whatsoever, she flung her arms around his neck in such a tight embrace that just about anyone would have classified it as a Tamaki-hug. "Of course," she whispered in his ear, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

And as soon as Tamaki hugged her back in an equally tight squeeze, a giant "Awww!" could be heard from the bushes. The newly-engaged couple jumped, still attached to one another.

"What the God's name?!" Tamaki exclaimed indignantly, looking at the bushes in bewildered suspicion as he clutched Haruhi to his chest protectively. "Whoever is there, I demand you come out immediately!"

One by one, member after member of the host club popped up from behind the hedge. Kaoru and Hikaru were grinning like Cheshire cats with their arms around each other's shoulders. Honey was on Mori's shoulders as usual, looking like he just ate an entire cake. Even Kyouya was smiling as he brushed leaves off of himself. Tamaki's jaw dropped to the ground in astonishment, his body turned to stone. Haruhi peeled herself off of him awkwardly as the little troop of spying boys found their way over and around the bush.

"I must say, that went rather smoothly Tamaki," Kyouya said by way of congratulations. Tamaki just looked at him in shock.

"You didn't honestly think we were going to miss this, did you boss?" Hikaru chuckled, sharing a conspiratory glance with his twin brother.

"And we're certainly glad we didn't," Kaoru laughed, and they circled Tamaki in an attempt to pull him out of his mortified state.

"Yay Haruhi!" Honey cheered, grabbing her hands and pulling her around in a circle. "You guys are gonna get married and have a zillion kids and everything!"

Haruhi laughed, playing along with him. "I don't know about that."

Suddenly, the ice encasing Tamaki's frozen form broke. "How could you two insolent, idiotic twins ruin our beautiful moment like that!?" he cried in outrage, his face turning bright red as he chased the twins around the garden.

"It was just so cute we couldn't resist!" They laughed in unison, gleefully avoiding Tamaki's angered grasp.

"Tamaki, aren't you forgetting something?" Kyouya said calmly, holding Haruhi's hand up in the air. Tamaki froze, straightened, cleared his throat, then strode over to her in a refined manner so opposite his attitude while chasing the misbehaving twins. He snatched her hand from Kyouya's grasp with his nose in the air as the twins giggled. Haruhi smiled gratefully as he slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a simple gold band, the two ends meeting at their sides with a diamond in the middle.

"It's perfect," she smiled, holding it up so she could see it better. She had honestly thought, if ever the moment had come, he would have gone for something utterly gaudy. And yet he had surprised her. It was funny, how even though she knew him so well, there were things that still remained hidden from her perception. The twins cooed again, appearing at her shoulders and capturing her in a double hold.

"Just so you know, Haruhi..." Hikaru smirked, poking one of her cheeks.

"...We get to make your wedding dress," Kaoru finished, poking the other one.

"Remove your hands from my precious Haruhi immediately!" Tamaki exclaimed, pulling her out of their grasp. She stumbled forward, and Mori steadied her.

"Someone's jealous!" The twins grinned, and Tamaki proceeded to chase the two of them around the yard.

"I swear," Kyouya shook his head, pushing up his glasses. "You might have been better off saying no," he addressed Haruhi with a half smile.

"Someone needs to keep that idiot in check," Haruhi smiled, and Honey, Mori, and Kyouya nodded in agreement. "It might as well be me."


End file.
